How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Stanza)
Quote #4
Daddy came in, / he sat across from Ma and blew his nose. / Mud streamed out. / He coughed and spit out / mud. / If he had cried, / his tears would have been mud too, / but he didn't cry. / And neither did Ma. (17.9)
The gritty, admittedly disgusting picture of muddy snot here gives a pretty vivid picture of the assault of the dust on those who dare try to stop it. Perhaps the most telling detail, though, is that neither Daddy nor Ma cries about the loss of their crops. This reveals how hardened they've become to the suffering of the Dust Bowl.
Quote #5
And as the dust left, / rain came. / Rain that was no blessing. / It came too hard, / too fast, / and washed the soil away, / washed the wheat away with it. / Now / little remains of Daddy's hard work. / And the only choice he has / is to give up or / start all over again. (26.2)
Just because it rains doesn't necessarily mean things will get easier. The suffering of the Dust Bowl demonstrates that even something that looks like a "blessing" can actually be destructive.
Quote #6
Daddy / has made a tent out of the sheet over Ma / so nothing will touch her skin, / what skin she has left. / I can't look at her, / I can't recognize her. / She smells like scorched meat. / Her body groaning there, / it looks nothing like my ma. / It doesn't even have a face. (35.1)
The physical detail of the burns Ma sustains in the accident is one of the novel's most disturbing pictures of suffering. So far we've come to see Ma as a distant, but loving woman with a vivacious natural beauty and killer musical talent—now all of that is gone, though.